Mark Selby misses out on 147 but progresses to German Masters last 16

World number one Mark Selby is into the last 16 of the German Masters after an exceptional performance in beating Ricky Walden 5-1.

Selby started as he meant to go on by winning the first frame with a run of 71, before making the first of his three century breaks in the second frame with a break of 106. The third frame offered Walden some hope as Selby broke down on 53 and later offered Walden the chance to clear, which he did with a 61 to make it 1-2.

From there he would not score another point in the entire match as Selby dominated frame four, the only frame where he did not make a break of above 50, before attempting a maximum in the first frame after the break. An excellent shot from the black to get on the yellow, which was on the baulk cushion, gave him the opportunity with the remaining colours out in the open, but the yellow rattled and he was forced to settle for a break of 120. That was followed by a stunning break of 127 in the sixth and final frame, showing no hangover of the frame previously and clinching an impressive win.

The same could not be said for third seed John Higgins, who suffered a black ball defeat to Chinese teenager Yuan Sijun, having been 3-1 in front early on in the match. In what was a scrappy opening four frames with both players having more than their fair share of opportunities, Yuan could easily have been 3-1 or even 4-0 ahead himself and must have wondered how on earth he was 3-1 adrift, having lost frames two, three and four on the colours after golden opportunities went begging.

One thing that would have done for Yuan is given him hope that if he raised his game he could get back into the contest after the mid-session interval, and that is exactly what happened. Runs of 68, 54 and 51 helped him to win all of the next three frames after the break and from 3-1 down he moved 4-3 in front. An excellent long pot from Higgins in the eighth got him in first and for the first time in the match he took advantage with a break of 93 forcing the decider. He also had the first opportunity in the decider, and after building a nice lead, he missed a simple enough red into the middle pocket and allowed Yuan back in. Eventually the frame would again come down to the colours, with Yuan forcing the mistake on the pink and potting it well, before adding the black with the rest to win it.

There was controversy though as it was later spotted that the cue ball made contact with the rest after Yuan potted the black, which would have been a foul had the referee noticed. Neither player noticed either as Higgins had offered his hand of congratulations to Yuan before the cue ball made contact with the rest and Yuan had already turned away from the table.


Elsewhere, Duane Jones produced a big upset as he defeated Jack Lisowski 5-2. Jones made two breaks of 62 and a match high of 129 in clinching his last 16 spot, making this stage of a ranking event for the first time in his career.

Another top 16 casualty was Ryan Day as he sat and watched a break building masterclass from Xiao Guodong. Breaks of 53, 57, 66, 102 and 105 saw Xiao thrash Day 5-1. That sets up an all-Chinese clash with Ding Junhui after he battled back from 2-0 down to defeat Fergal O'Brien 5-3. O'Brien opened the contest with a match high 130 break, while Ding made breaks of 51, 65 and 73 after the break to take the match from 2-2 to 5-3.

Neil Robertson was a 5-1 winner against Kurt Maflin, with high breaks of 56, 60, 65 and 78 and will now face Stuart Bingham who overcame European Masters champion Jimmy Robertson 5-2 with a high break of 130 in the opening frame.


Last 32 results: (Bottom half) 

Yuan Sijun 5-4 John Higgins
Duane Jones 5-2 Jack Lisowski
Xiao Guodong 5-1 Ryan Day
Ding Junhui 5-3 Fergal O'Brien
Neil Robertson 5-1 Kurt Maflin
Stuart Bingham 5-2 Jimmy Robertson
David Gilbert 5-2 Ben Woollaston
Mark Selby 5-1 Ricky Walden

Last 16 draw: (Bottom half) (Picks in bold) 

Yuan Sijun Vs Duane Jones
Ding Junhui Vs Xiao Guodong
Neil Robertson Vs Stuart Bingham
Mark Selby Vs David Gilbert


The second half of last 16 games take place on Friday afternoon which means these players will have to play twice on the day, with all four quarter-finals taking place on Friday evening.

Yuan Sijun will start a big favourite against Duane Jones, as Yuan eyes his second quarter-final of the season, while Jones is into the last 16 of a ranking event for the first time in his career. Yuan is also now safely into next week's World Grand Prix which shows how good his season has been and how much of a hot prospect he is in the snooker world and will be for year's to come. Jones' victory against Lisowski really came out of nowhere as he had not done too much to write home about this season on tour but this run will now surely give him confidence for what remains of the season. If Yuan plays how he did in the first four frames against Higgins then there is a chance for Jones, but if he carries on from where he left off in the second half then the teenager should go through.

Then there is an all-Chinese clash as Ding Junhui meets Xiao Guodong. This is not an easy one to call after Xiao thrashed Ding's nemesis Ryan Day 5-1 in the opening round with some excellent scoring throughout the match. Ding though had to dig deep against O'Brien who started strongly in that one taking a 2-0 lead and given O'Brien's nature, it was always going to be a really hard fought game from there, so it's a great sign for Ding that he had the strength to come through. Ding was also a semi-finalist recently at the Masters and looked in much better form there, while he has won all of the last six meetings against Xiao including three times in 2018, with the UK Championships being the most recent. That one was a hard fought 6-4 triumph for Ding and this match could another close game once again.

Neil Robertson and Stuart Bingham is another tough clash to call either way. Both have been in the winner's circle again this season and are in good form on the whole, with Bingham making the UK semi-finals while Robertson was in the Masters semi-finals recently. In round one both players played pretty well and had comfortable victories making it tough to choose a winner between the two on present form over a best-of-9 frame contest. Either player could come out of the blocks quickly with some heavy scoring and blow the other away. In terms of the head-to-head, Robertson won their most recent meeting 6-0 in the China Open quarter-finals last season, but Bingham had won the two non-Championship League meetings prior to that and leads the head-to-head overall which is possibly a start you would have expected to be the opposite way around. Either way, this is a very tight call on paper and is worthy of being the TV match.

On the stream table, world number one Mark Selby takes on David Gilbert. Both players were comfortable winners in round one in terms of scoreline but in terms of their break-building stats from those matches, they were poles apart. Selby had three centuries, while Gilbert only managed one 50+ contribution in a match that was filled with tight frames against Ben Woollaston. Before you right off Gilbert's chances though, Selby opened up his Masters campaign against Stephen Maguire with three centuries and looked in supreme form, but in his next match against Judd Trump he looked like a different man and fell away rapidly. If he is to go far in this event he will need to show more consistency and Gilbert is a tough opponent having been to a ranking final again this season and made a further quarter-final since then. The head-to-head does not say much for Gilbert as he has only beaten Selby once outside of the Championship League, though that CL group match victory did come last week, but it will still be a push to read anything into it. On the day, if Selby repeats his form from the Walden game than Gilbert will be firmly in trouble.